Midnight: The Rise Of Nyx
by Ashen Tears
Summary: Travis Stoll and Annabeth Chase make a terrible discovery - Nyx, the primordial goddess of the night, has awoken and set out to destroy Camp Half-Blood once and for all. Can two young half-bloods stop her...or is the camp doomed forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! This is my first Percy Jackson fanfic. It starts from Travis Stoll's POV, but then…maybe I'll change. Enjoy!**

Travis's POV

"Travis and Connor Stoll!"

A loud voice rang out from the Big House. Connor looked at me and, distracted, got conked on the head with a basketball by a throw from Chris Rodriguez.

"Come on," I said, grabbing his shirt and pulling him along before he could throw it back. "Let's see what Chiron wants."

Connor rolled his eyes and muttered, "As if you don't know already!" I pretended not to hear him.

Up at the Big House, we met Chiron, his horse half compacted into the magic wheelchair.

"Boys," he said sternly. "_Why_ would you want to fix the Apollo cabin's guitar amplifiers so that they only made animal noises?"

I tried to keep a straight face, but Connor burst out laughing, and I just couldn't control myself. Even Chiron was struggling to keep from smiling.

"Oh, my…" Connor gasped, clutching his stomach. "You remember? Will Solace was trying to play 'Surfing with the Alien' by Joe Satriani and his guitar was bleating like a sheep?"

I smiled at the thought. "Yeah, thanks to Leo. Will was _barking_ mad after that," I said, which of course sent Connor into a fresh burst of laughter.

"Between you and me," Chiron said, leaning in conspiratorially, "I think that's pure genius. But," he continued, cutting off our exclamations, "Mr D is very strict about this. I have to punish you."

"For the 384th time," Connor said under his breath.

"It being March," Chiron said, "most of the campers aren't here. You're on night patrol for one week." He looked at us sternly. "And _no_ wandering off in the middle of the night. Got it?"

"Aw, man…"

**What do you think? Not much important stuff, I know, but it's buildup. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Travis's POV

It was the seventh and final night of our night patrol duties.

_Finally, this stupid thing is over!_ I thought. I could handle physical pain, but if there was one thing I can't take, it's boredom.

So far, that night had been just the same as the other six – nothing was happening. Just hour after hour of trudging through camp.

I was almost asleep on my feet when I heard a strange _whoosh_ing sound from the woods. Connor was off patrolling the cabins, so I was on my own.

"Maia!" I whispered. Small wings sprouted from my basketball shoes as I took to the air.

I flew low over the woods, looking for anything out of the ordinary. I flitted past the creek, then stopped, flew back and settled in a tree.

I had seen something or someone moving near the creek; now, the shape resolved itself into a woman dressed entirely in black. She was walking around the woods. She didn't appear to be doing much, but I couldn't be sure. I was just shifting around to get a better view when the branch beneath me snapped.

I would have fallen, but luckily my shoes' wings were still activated. I floated back up, hiding among the leaves, hardly daring to breathe.

The lady raised her head, and I stifled a gasp of horror. Where her eyes should have been were pitch black holes. As I looked at them, I began to feel oddly sleepy, so I wrenched my eyes away. In the brief moment I had seen her eyes, though, I could tell that she knew where I was.

That would have probably been the end of me, but just then, the sun peeked above the horizon, and the lady simply dissolved.

Just like that. Gone.

I exhaled. I'd survived this time. Now to figure out what exactly I had escaped from.


	3. Chapter 3

Travis's POV

"I'm telling you, I'm not lying!" I shouted. "That's what I saw!"

We were at an emergency counsellors' meeting. Nobody was speaking, but most of their expressions clearly said _This guy's got a screw loose_.

"Travis," Chiron said gently. "Isn't there a slight possibility that you could have…well…dozed off and imagined the whole thing?"

"No!" I said forcefully. "It really happened! I'll swear on the Styx if I have to!"

Thunder rumbled overhead.

Chiron took a deep breath. "For now, this meeting is adjourned. We will meet tomorrow and decide then."

I stormed out of the Big House, furious.

"Travis, wait!" a voice called from behind me.

I kept on going, not knowing where. _Like Connor actually _believes_ me_, I thought. _Yeah, right!_

"Travis, just listen to me, please!" the voice called out again.

I stopped and spun around, even angrier than before. "Shut up, Connor! Just because you're my brother doesn't mean…"

I trailed off. Rather than my younger brother, I found Annabeth hurrying towards me.

"Travis, hold on! I want to talk to you!" She caught up to me, then put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"Travis, I don't think you're lying," she said, straightening up. "I know you're telling the truth. Let me help you."

I thought for a long time. "Okay," I decided.


	4. Chapter 4

Annabeth's POV

"Fine," I said. "Wait for me in the Big House basement. I'll be right back." I dashed off towards the cabins.

I entered cabin six. No one was there, because they were all at their activities.

I went over to one of the bookshelves and rifled through the books until I found what I needed.

Οδηγός του Χείρωνα με την ελληνική μυθολογία. Chiron's Guide To Greek Mythology.

I ran up to the Big House with the book tucked under one arm. I met Travis in the basement.

"Okay," I said breathlessly. "Got it. Can you tell me what this lady you saw looked like?"

As Travis described the woman he'd seen, I flipped through the book until I found the right page.

"Oh, Styx," I whispered. "This is not good at all."

Travis peered anxiously over my shoulder. "What? You found her?"

I passed the book to him.

"Nyx," he read out. "Primordial goddess of the night." He looked at me. "Primordial?"

"Before the Titans," I told him.

"Oh." He continued. "She was born to Chaos, the primeval void, and is the mother of primordial gods such as Hemera, Hypnos, Moros, Thanatos, and – Styx?"

I nodded glumly. "Nyx was one of the very first goddesses. One of her children, Thanatos, is death personified. You can imagine how powerful she is."

Travis thought about that. "Wow." He scanned the book. "Wait a minute. It says here that, after the First Titan War, she was cast into an eternal sleep. That doesn't make any sense. How could she have been here then?"

"I've been thinking about that," I said. "Remember, Hypnos, her son, is the personification of sleep itself. It's doubtful that she doesn't have sleep-related powers."

"Which could mean," Travis said slowly, "that she wasn't even asleep all this time, but…"

"Plotting," I finished. "Plotting to overthrow the Olympians.

"And she's going to start by eliminating the demigods."


	5. Chapter 5

Annabeth's POV

Travis and I decided it was too risky to tell the rest of the camp, but we would let cabin six in on the secret.

"We can't fight a goddess alone," I'd pointed out. "They can help us set up surveillance. We need to find out more about what we're facing." Travis didn't bother arguing.

I told the rest of my cabin mates, and we held a meeting in cabin six.

I'd made a 3D presentation on Daedalus' laptop, and I turned it on now, showing a map of the woods.

I took a laser pointer out of my pocket. "Okay, you all know why we're here. We need to find out more about Nyx – her abilities, her weaknesses." I activated the pointer and indicated a small clearing near the creek. "Travis saw Nyx over _here_, so if we have cameras planted here, here and there, we should be able to see everything in the area."

One of the newer campers, Bill Clark, raised his hand. "What good will that do? Travis has seen her before. We need to know what she's capable of." There were murmurs of assent from the others.

"Exactly," I said. "At around sunset today, we're going to plant dummies in the trees. They'll be attached to radio-activated clamps, so we can launch them at her remotely and see what she does."

I clicked off the presentation. "We don't have much time. Let's get to work!"

Annabeth's POV

It took a few precious hours, but we finally had four dummies, four RC clamps and three cameras ready. Travis directed us to the clearing and helped us set up the gear. It took longer than expected, and twilight was setting in by the time we were ready.

"Good work, guys," I said as we trudged back to the cabins. "With any luck, we'll see her tonight."

Just then, we heard the familiar sound of a conch shell in the distance.

"Oh, is it that time already?" I said, dismayed. I'd hoped to get the cameras linked up before dinner. "Ah, well. Let's go, then."


	6. Chapter 6

Annabeth's POV

I inhaled a burrito at dinner and ran back to the cabin.

"What's the rush, owl-head?" Clarisse muttered from the Ares table. I didn't bother retorting, though.

I pulled Daedalus' laptop from my backpack and opened it. I drummed my fingers impatiently on the table as it booted up, and when it did, I networked the laptop with the cameras and clamps, so I could control them. Then, I opened video boxes for the three cameras.

Nothing. Just black interference.

I pushed a few keys experimentally, but nothing happened.

I went outside, and caught Travis just as he was returning to his cabin.

"Travis," I said, not sure why I was whispering. "The cameras aren't working."

"I can check it out," he said. Without waiting for an answer, he whispered "Maia!" and took off into the night sky.

I watched him go. _He means well_, I thought, _but he's far too reckless._


	7. Chapter 7

Travis's POV

I glided above the woods, a cool breeze playing across my face. I just _love_ flying!

I swooped down over the clearing I had seen the night goddess before.

No sign of Nyx. Good.

No sign of anything else. Bad.

Just to be sure, I flew past the trees where we'd concealed our traps, but they had disappeared.

I alighted on the ground and checked one last time, but I still couldn't see anything. Strange…

Suddenly, my shoes sunk into something soft on the forest floor. I knelt and examined it. It was some sort of shiny black powder.

I was about to leave, but I suddenly realized what had happened to the traps. I examined the powder again. It was very fine and smooth, almost like…

_Ash_, I thought.

No time to waste. I whispered "Maia!" and took to the skies once more.

_Annabeth has to know about this._


End file.
